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Topbot
Topbot was a robot that competed in Series 7 of Robot Wars. It came from Team Monad, and was the third robot from the Dublin-based team, after Monad and 4x4. Topbot lost in the first round of its heat after the disc broke off, and also lost its qualifier battle in the Third World Championship to Crushtacean, where it represented the Republic of Ireland. Design Topbot's weapon was a horizontal spinning disc that was 64cm wide and weighed 30 kilograms, made from steel and aluminium with two hardened teeth. The body had four wheels on top and bottom, making it an invertible robot, and it had a low ground clearance. It was one of the many robots over the weight limit, so there were many small holes drilled in the top and sides of its bodywork to fit the constraints. The disc made the robot quite top-heavy, but made up for it in its power; it smashed the arena wall in its World Championship qualifier battle. Although Topbot could run inverted and use its disc in either orientation, Topbot's default configuration sees its disc at floor level, evidenced by the robot's name being written on the front of Topbot, which only reads correctly if the robot is not inverted. This essentially made Topbot one of the pioneers of the 'undercutter' spinner, used by Topbot and future undercutters such as PP3D to target the exposed wheels underneath most robots. The Team Topbot was entered by Team Monad, a two-man team consisting of captain Bernard "Benny" Karstel and teammate Andrew Karstel. The team were based in Clondalkin in Dublin, the same region that Team Nemesis were based. This made Topbot the only Irish machine in the Seventh Wars. Team Monad had previously entered the Fifth Wars with Monad, and the Sixth Wars with 4x4, with no success. Unfortunately, Benny Karstel later died in 2006Private correspondence with Peter Redmond. Robot History Series 7 Topbot received a reasonable draw in Round 1 of the Seventh Wars, against veterans Raging Knightmare, as well as R.O.C.S. and The Executioner. In the opening seconds, it spun around in circles to ward off attacks whilst the disc gained speed. It then charged into the fray, hacking at the rear of R.O.C.S., but a sudden impact with The Executioner's vertical spinning weapon caused Topbot's spinning disc to detach and fly across the arena floor. Topbot drove around the arena erratically, almost falling in the pit with a wheel hanging over the edge. Topbot then drove into Mr. Psycho's CPZ and was cornered. The House Robot hit Topbot with his hammer, and rather comically, his head fell off. Topbot appeared to break down towards the end of the fight and was pushed by Raging Knightmare onto the flame pit as the time expired at the end of the five-minute battle. The match went to a judges' decision, who voted in favour of R.O.C.S. and Raging Knightmare, eliminating Topbot in the first round. Topbot returned for the Third World Championship, fighting against the South African Crushtacean in its qualifier battle, which was broadcast as part of Heat G. This time, Topbot entered the arena with its disc face up. Topbot tried to spin up in circles to allow its disc to gain speed, but Crushtacean covered the distance between the pair quickly and prevented Topbot from spinning, shoving it into a CPZ. Topbot escaped, attacking the side of Crushtacean. Topbot slammed into the arena wall, cracking pieces of it before being seized by the crab-like robot and shoved away. Crushtacean pushed Topbot into the pit release, before shoving it down the pit and eliminating it from the competition. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 0 *Losses: 2 Series Record Outside Robot Wars After Series 7, Topbot was maintained, and intended to enter various live events, but the ban on spinning weapons across live events prevented Topbot from competing. As a result, Team Monad would compete on the live circuit with 4x4 instead. As of 2018, Topbot is still intact, but retired. Trivia *Topbot was the only robot from either part of Ireland to feature in Series 7. *Topbot was the first competitor in Robot Wars designed primarily to be an undercutter spinner. References Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots with multiple appearances without winning a battle Category:Robots with Horizontal Flywheels Category:Robots from the Republic of Ireland Category:Invertible Robots Category:Robots to damage the Arena Category:Robots which debuted in Series 7 Category:Robots which only fought in Series 7